Food Challenges

We're always in to the challenge of getting the boys to expand their palates. Reuben will typically try most things put in front of him, but the other two are an entirely different story. Sigh. Jonah's so proud of his accomplishment to try different flavors of yogurt past the strawberry flavor that he only ate for the last few years. It makes my shoulders drop in defeat when he crows over this, because it IS NOT that great of an accomplishment! Pizza? That would be, but not just a different flavor of yogurt!

I know - large injury to accompany my little chef

Thankfully, we have discovered one small way to help Matthias be more open. Letting him help cook it. This kid loves to help in the kitchen ... it might be more like obsessed with it. "Cooking? Cooking?" as he runs after me with his stool, grabbing a spatula out of the drawer. "I stir it? I STIR IT!"

But a few weeks ago, I just left him stir away on the filling for lasagna while I made the sauce and cooked the noodles. He just stirred and stirred and stirred, cheerfully chattering about his "cheese-agna" that he was making. I let him help spread the layers and sprinkle the cheese on top. (please note that this child has NEVER never been successfully bribed or forced to eat any pasta of any kind - none).

And then when it came out of the oven? Eli put some on a plate, told him all about how this was his cheese-agna that he had made with Mommy. He poked at it, looked at it ... and then started eating it!

Maybe eating lasagna doesn't sound like a victory to some - not the healthiest meal - but when you've just wanted to get him to try pasta, it was HUGE! So, I've applied this to other things a couple times, with pretty decent success. He still is nervous about meat, but I'm hoping we'll get there! One step at a time.